I am middle aged and middle class, and I live in middle England. It seems I am soon to become, for the first time in my life, a criminal.

That's because I will not accept an identity card. If I am issued with one, I intend to commit an offence by destroying it, or maybe sending it back with a polite note saying thank you, but I already know who I am.

The idea that I must prove my identity on demand is abhorrent. And the notion that such a scheme will help to foil terrorism is just plain ludicrous.

It's at best a diversion, and at worst a fundamental assault on liberty.

Too strong? I think not. Frankly, I don't expect to be discommoded by an identity card system, for the reasons given in the first sentence of this article.

I live in a place where bobbies still nod and smile, and this month's major crime sensation is the vandalism of a gate on a public footpath.

If I were black in Brixton, I would not be so sanguine. The whole point of a uniform identity card is that it can be checked on demand.

Forget the soothing, downright misleading, assurances that it will only be checked "with due reason".

I have seen identity card checks in continental Europe. When I lived in Belgium, I was required as a foreigner to carry my passport at all times and later, to take a carte d'identite from the local commune.

As a guest in that country, I had no problem conforming with the law. Nor did I have any problem with the police or the national gendarmerie.

If I was in a bar or restaurant when they conducted one of their regular round-ups, they'd ignore me and go straight for the blacks, the Moroccans or anyone else who stood out from the crowd.

That's how it works there, and that's how it will work here. It's obnoxious.

I'm in a minority. I know that, on no less an authority than the News of the World, which carried an opinion poll yesterday suggesting that 86% of Britons support compulsory identity cards.

The paper told its readers: "An overwhelming majority of British people are convinced the cards would help fight crime, prevent terrorism and identify illegal immigrants."

Fight crime? Is a criminal less likely to rob, defraud, or commit violence if he or she is carrying a bit of plastic? Prevent terrorism? Too silly for words.

Identify illegal immigrants? Now that goes to the heart of the matter. In our crabbed, narrow view of the world, consumed by fear and jealousy of Johnny Foreigner, we want to know about the aliens in our midst, especially our betes-noire, the "bogus" asylum-seekers.

But hang on: what about legal migrants? And visiting businesspeople? And tourists? Are we seriously proposing to issue them all with identity cards?

Of course not. They will be obliged to identify themselves if the need arises, and doubtless will be able to do so.